JIMMY BELL JR.

MORGANTOWN — It started in Kansas City and Bob Huggins remembers it this way.

“At the conference tournament I was sitting with a bunch of guys talking and a guy walks over and says he’s a scout for the Kansas City Chiefs and says, ‘Do you realize how good a tackle that big guy you have can be.'”

That big guy, of course, was Jimmy Bell Jr., a mountain of a Mountaineer whose 6-foot, 10-inch, 285-pound body presented himself as a formidable opponent to all who came his way under the basket.

Huggins replied, “Well, I never really thought about it.”

That was something of white lie, for while Huggins had to see Bell in terms of a basketball player, he was well aware that Bell had played offensive tackle before he got to junior college and was a big-time prospect, emphasis on big for his weight at one time pushed 400 pounds.

Huggins’ visitor pressed on. “Well, he could make a lot of money playing football.”

Now, you have to pay attention when a Kansas City Chiefs scout makes an observation, for they are the team that wears the championship rings.

Bell, of course, during the past basketball season had referenced his football past and mused as to whether it also could be a football future. For the longest time he envisioned himself as a All-Pro NFL tackle.

In fact, in January, he addressed it in a media conversation.

He had reached 280 points as a sophomore at Arthur Hill High in Saginaw, Michigan. But he wasn’t just big, he had the great footwork that Huggins has raved about since he arrived on the WVU basketball scene.

In fact, his first scholarship offer came from UNLV for basketball.

After his high school basketball coach was fired in Michigan, he went to prep school in Arizona and gave up playing football … but the desire stayed with him.

“The thought of playing both has definitely crossed my mind,” he admitted in January. “It’s definitely a thought, for sure.”

Playing basketball and another sport is nothing new. Think Deion Sanders. Think Donovan McNabb. Think WVU’s own James Jett. Think Bo Jackson and Charlie Ward, both with Heisman Trophies.

But basketball centers do not often become football centers …. and while Bell would play at tackle because of his size and build, it still is an idea that now has come to fruition.

Huggins gave it all a lot of thought and came to one conclusion.

“He might be better served playing football,” the coach said.

While Bell has been a serviceable big man in college basketball, he doesn’t have the skills to play in the NBA. But he was a solid offensive lineman in high school.

“The guy said he could make a million dollars playing football with his feet. He’s just got terrific feet,” Huggins said.

Huggins approached Bell with the thought, then contacted Neal Brown, the football coach, when Bell showed interest.

Now the cat is out of the bag, so to speak, and Brown interrupted media interviews of players at the Puskar Center to make public that Bell has been working with the football team on more of a “look and see” basis than anything else for the past couple of weeks.

This was one of those good news, bad news moments. The bad news may have more effect on the Mountaineer team than the good news for Josiah Trotter, who was going to see a lot of action as the backup middle backer behind Lee Kgopba, is scheduled to undergo surgery for what is believed to be a knee injury that will keep him out all season.

“He’s had a really rough last six weeks and will have a surgery at the end of this month,” Brown said of Trotter. “He’s practiced like he’s going to be a star. I love the kid; I hate it for him.”

The good news is the Bell experiment with football, which could add depth to the O-line and give an option in his future.

“Jimmy is on a trial run with us,” Brown said. “Coach Huggins and I talked at the end of the March and agreed for a trial run. For two weeks he did drills and practiced Tuesday, Thursday, Saturday and will be with us through the spring game. When I say trial run, it really is.

“It’s been a while since he played,” Brown went on, noting that it has been six or seven years. “Obviously, he’s got great length, got size and has the demeanor. He’s physical in basketball, so he’ll try it. I don’t really have any expectations for him.

“I’m just looking, at the end of the month, he has to make a decision whether he wants to play basketball, which he definitely can do, and then we’ve got to make a decision if he can help us. The way the rules are, he has to make a decision.”

One way or the other, Bell has big opportunities in front of him.

“They like him,” Huggins said. “Obviously, he’s big, he’s strong, he’s longer than most other offensive and defensive lineman. If he can do that and make money for himself and his family, that would be terrific.”